This situation is made up for discussion purposes here. Please do not try to introduce any of the typical little things we all worry about that might bend your answer one way or the other if this were a real situation and you were involved.
Here goes:
You get a call from the client who is the seller of a parcel to a willing buyer.
The parcel is described in a contract between buyer and seller as: 20 acres off the west end of seller's existing property.
The client explains that he understands you will be constrained on the west, north and south sides by the current boundaries of what he owns.
All you need to do is survey off 20 acres.
Client says you can make the east line parallel with the west line or perpendicular to either the north line or the south line or some other reasonable option that is appropriate. It really doesn't matter to them. Just cut off 20 acres. You send him a contract to do so, he signs and returns it. You go do the job.
Fast forward to the day the client receives the plats from you.
Ring Ring:
You: Friendly Surveyors, how may I help you.
Client: This is Client. You made a big mistake on my survey. I need you to fix it.
You: I did? What did I do wrong or misunderstand?
Client: Your drawing and the description you prepared for the new tract both say that it contains 19.999 acres. That is not 20 acres as is stated in my contract with you and in my contract with the buyer.
You:--------------------------------------
From that point, imagine the conversation that might follow. All the explanation about significant digits and such falls on deaf ears. It must be no less than 20. It could be 20.0000000000000000000000000000000000001 or whatever, but, according to the client it must be on the top side of 20 such that your significant digit argument would round it down to 20.000, not up to 20.000. If you fuss too much, the client might even refuse to pay for your work because you did not do what he needed done.
OK, now what do you do to make things right with the world and have a happy client? Does your level of effort in fixing things to make the client happy require you to perhaps return to the site and actually move the corner monuments you just set a few days earlier? If so, do you attempt to add charges on your invoice or do you eat your additional expenses and charge it up to your own education in client satisfaction techniques? Do you simply change a few numbers on your plat and description to make everything match that magic 20.000, not 19.999? Does it make a difference if the length of that east line that you had to create is 100 feet long or 1000 feet long or 2000 feet long?
Bottom line, what do you do?
You round up to 20.00 and forget about it.
Tell him you adjusted the line by whatever and now the acreage will be 20.0000000 to infinity. Make a new plat showing the difference (yeah right) and mail it to him. Won't have to record (here) because it is a survey of an existing tract and nothing significant has changed.
It's real simple ...
You didn't do what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to survey 20 acres - you didn't. FIX IT!
Now you and I both know that the difference between 19.9999 and 20 isn't much, but that's not the point.
You blame it on a computer glitch and revise everything to be 20 acres like the contract says.
B-)
I suggest it is an error to fail to discuss with an apparently unsophisticated client why the number 20 was chosen. Had the reason been understood, the surveyor could have laid out a line that would be sure to satisfy the underlying criteria.
I wouldn't have sent out a plan with 19.999 acres when they told me 20 acres. My plan would say 20.0 acres. And the boundaries would be the same as yours.
> I wouldn't have sent out a plan with 19.999 acres when they told me 20 acres. My plan would say 20.0 acres. And the boundaries would be the same as yours.
Agreed!! And on top of that, I always review the subdivision map with the client prior to setting corners. That way if something needs to change, it is easier to change it on paper rather than in the field.
Also, in order to add 0.001 acre, it would require 43.50 square feet. If the line were 100 feet long, it would need to be moved 0.4' to get the required acreage. In this example, being 20 acres, it is highly unlikely that the closing line is only 100' long. 1000' would require a 0.04' adjustment. Are your monuments set that close? Will they still be that close after a few freeze/thaw cycles?
Your drawing and the description you prepared for the new tract both say that it contains 19.999 acres.
Well there is the problem. They wanted 20 acres. Show 20 acres. Add in parenthesis 20.00 acres if you like. I cannot recall ever showing thousandths of a acre in 4 decades of practice. Seems you are the one who needs to learns something about significance of figures. You allowed misinterpretation of insignificant data. You should keep the barrel of the gun pointed away from yourself and anyone else when playing with such weapons.
Fix It At Your Expense
Assuming it is 20 acres and perfectly square the 0.001 acres can be found by lengthening the North and South lines by 0.05'. Most likely it would be even less. No need to even reset the pins.
If you must be on the pins precisely, then change the East line to a curve to the left or right, with radius of 1,500,000'.
Paul in PA
> > I wouldn't have sent out a plan with 19.999 acres when they told me 20 acres. My plan would say 20.0 acres. And the boundaries would be the same as yours.
>
> Agreed!! And on top of that, I always review the subdivision map with the client prior to setting corners. That way if something needs to change, it is easier to change it on paper rather than in the field.
>
> Also, in order to add 0.001 acre, it would require 43.50 square feet. If the line were 100 feet long, it would need to be moved 0.4' to get the required acreage. In this example, being 20 acres, it is highly unlikely that the closing line is only 100' long. 1000' would require a 0.04' adjustment. Are your monuments set that close? Will they still be that close after a few freeze/thaw cycles?
I am the jerk who commented first...
I neglected to ask what your unadjusted closure was. If it was less than 1:20,000 then it essentially is 20 acres per the contract and the surveying laws I'm aware of.
I also agree. But at this point the numbers on your plat better actually compute to greater than 20 and not just round up to 20. That 43.56 square feet is important to someone. Maybe a county bureaucrat with his own cogo software. If you have to move a couple of pins and edit your plat, so be it.
If you agreed to make it 20 acres, and not 20.000 acres, then you have done that. Just change the description to 20 acres and leave everything else the same. I can't imagine describing the areage to .001 acres anyway.
It's real simple ...
> You didn't do what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to survey 20 acres - you didn't. FIX IT!
>
> Now you and I both know that the difference between 19.9999 and 20 isn't much, but that's not the point.
Dave Ingram is right.
N
"You round up to 20.00 and forget about it."
ABSOLUTELY! AND, you learn that you never, ever, ever show three decimal places for an area. NEVER...
You make your plat say 20 acres. adjust monuments if necessary. Dont bother with the significant digits argument, it is a waste of oxygen.
I wouldn't have put a plat out that shows acreage on 19.999 acres in the first damn place. It would have been 20.00 acres.
:good:
:good:
100.000% of the time.